November 04th, 2021

November came fast in the Rainey Room and we are excited for a month filled with joy, gratitude and celebrations ahead of us. St. John's will celebrate its annual Thanksgiving Feast on November 23 with a special Thanksgiving Chapel and individual classroom Feasts, during which we will share the typical soup that will have been prepared by the children in collaboration with wonderful parent volunteers. 
We began sharing our thoughts and ideas about Thanksgiving, how we celebrate and our memories of the Thanksgiving Feast in Brown Room.

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What is Thanksgiving?

Finlay: It’s like when all your parents and all your moms and all your daddies and all your uncles and all your daddies and all your grandmas and whoever is your family comes to your house and eats chicken. 
Hugh: No, turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey!
Sam: A lot of families do eat turkey on thanksgiving but some don’t. 
Wilder: And when it’s Thanksgiving a lot of people go off. A lot of people go to different places. 
Ines: Yes, a lot of people travel. Where do you travel to?
Wilder: Garrison and Maine. 
Ines: Why do you travel to those places?
Wilder: Cause those are, that’s our favorite holiday or Thanksgiving places. 

We reflected on last year's Thanksgiving celebration at school and revisited our Brown Room Thankful Tree, which also served as our center piece.
How can we prepare for the Thanksgiving Feast at school this year?
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​Wilder: We decorate the table. 
Sam: We are going to decorate the table again for Rainey Room this year. Do you have any ideas of how we could decorate the table?
Bea: Well, because I think it would be nice flowers.
Frannie: It would be nice to put a table cloth on.
Bea: What is the color of it? Which is the color of the celebration?
Sam: What is the color of Thanksgiving?
Bea: We can make our own up.
Hugh: Gold. And brown.
Daniel: It’s red. 
Bea: It’s red and green.
Saul: Stickers! Stickers of stars. I really like sleeping. 
Wilder: And you could put moons stickers on.
Luke: Jingles! (Jingles like bells)

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Ines: What did we eat together for our Thanksgiving feast last year?
Luke: Apples.
Lily: Soup!
Ines: Yes, remember, every classroom helped cut herbs and vegetables for the soup. But I noticed we only have plates in Rainey Room. But what do we need for eating soup?
Bea: Bowls. Big bowls!
Wilder: Maybe out of clay.
Hugh: I was thinking about that, too!


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​Shaping our Clay Bowls

The children have showed great interest in using clay in the classroom again and have frequently asked for  opportunities to explore clay further. To create our clay bowl we are using glass bowls which are tightly covered in fabric, as a mold. What is a mold? Bea recalled an experience from Brown Room during which we used molds:

I already know how to make a bowl out of clay. Remember when we made something for Victor and we used that plate mold? - Bea

Circular clay slabs are being shaped around our molds to create the bowl shape. Since the clay is very soft at first, the mold provides support and stability while the children worked on personalizing their bowl.

What is a clay slab?
Bea: It’s where you flatten them super super super super super flat. 
Cate: It’s soft clay, It’s a circle and flat. You used a rolling pin. I just know that because rolling pins just make things fat, flat. 
Daniel: It feels really soft and really hard and cold. It looks like a pizza.

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Daniel: It’s already shaped like a bowl. I thought it was metal.
Jade: It’s hard.
Wilder: All of these are different kinds of bowls.
Saul: I chose the white one because that’s my favorite color. (Shapes the clay slab over the bowl) This way because it’s my favorite way to shape clay.
Wilder: Cause it’s so flat and we can’t use it that way. That’s why (we have to shape it over the bowl).

​My heart was beating fast because it means that Thanksgiving we’re having soup at school. - Saul
Were you excited about that? - Ines
​     Yes! - Saul

Personalizing our bowls

We used a variety of mark making tools like stamps, textured rollin pins or lace/fabric, to create textures and decorations on our bowls. In addition to that, many children used their symbols to further personalize their bowls as well as representing their friends.

​Saul: I think I need some flowers. 

Daniel, sharing with Michael how he used a stamp to create a mark: I flattened my hand down, I lift it up and I made a tree! 
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Luke: I made a heart, I love you. Because it’s for you. 

Daniel: I was working too hard (using the rolling pin) because the bumble bee (his symbol) zoomed off.

Cape, adding Daniel and Luke’s symbols to his own bowl: Because I like them and I love their symbols.
Daniel: I’m making it pretty.

Frannie: I can use it for putting toys in it. 
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​How we can support each other through sharing knowledge and experiences

Daniel observed how Cape used a wooden heart to create a mark on his bowl and asked if he could have a turn as well. After Cape handed it to him, Daniel tried to create a similar mark...

After the clay bowls began to dry on the molds for a few hours until they were leather hard we were able to take them off the molds and flip them over. They will have to dry, loosely covered with plastic sheets on wooden boards to allow for a gentle drying time, in order to prevent cracking. Now they will continue to dry until they are no longer cold to the touch and bone dry. 
Then they will be ready to be further decorated with underglazes.